A Native Roots dispensary at 15th and Champa in 2015. (BusinessDen file)
Now in its eighth year, a nine-figure dispute between the co-owners of the Native Roots cannabis company has come to involve allegations of fraudulent real estate transfers.
The business was formed in 2013 by Josh Ginsberg, Rhett Jordan and Peter Knobel. As the company has grown into one of the state’s top sellers of marijuana, Ginsberg and Jordan have been engaged in high-priced litigation against Knobel in courts from Denver to Vail.
Their dispute dates to 2017, the height of Native Roots’ success, when it was valued at $172 million. Then, as now, Knobel — whose background is real estate development — owned 70% of the company, Ginsberg 16% and Jordan 14%. Knobel held half the voting shares; the others had 25% each.
What came next was messy. When Knobel sought to sell his shares to a private equity firm, Ginsberg and Jordan claimed he had triggered a right of first offer that allowed them to buy those shares for $8.8 million. Ginsberg tried to. He says that he would have raised the money in time, but Knobel cast aspersions on him with financiers. Their dispute went to arbitration.
Josh Ginsberg, left, and Rhett Jordan. (BusinessDen file)
In 2021, an arbitrator awarded Ginsberg $53.6 million and Jordan $46.9 million after determining that Knobel’s company Brightstar had violated their right of first offer. But a Denver District Court judge vacated that award in 2022 because, he said, the arbitrator had “demonstrated direct, definite and evident bias” against Knobel. Then, in 2024, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the reversal and reinstated the $100 million judgment.
Brightstar has since appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court. That appeal is pending.
Meanwhile, on Feb. 7, Ginsberg heaved an additional 52-page lawsuit atop the mountain of litigation between him and his former business partner. He sued Knobel, Knobel’s wife, Brightstar and 53 other companies of Knobel’s, many of which relate to real estate.
Ginsberg accuses the Knobels of creating a company called Halcyon Lending in the days after the Court of Appeals reinstated the $100 million judgment, then moving assets from Brightstar to Halcyon “to deplete Brightstar before (Ginsberg) and Jordan can collect.”
Those assets include 10 retail properties, nearly all of which are Native Roots dispensaries — four in Denver, four in Colorado Springs, two in Summit County — plus the office building at 3150 S. Sheridan Blvd. in Denver that is the cannabis company’s headquarters.
All of the transfers were made May 24, five weeks after the Court of Appeals ordered Brightstar to pay $100 million, plus interest. The judgment now totals about $170 million and counting, according to Ginsberg’s lawsuit, which alleges theft and fraudulent transfers.
“We have no comment on this pending litigation,” said Knobel’s attorney, Ty Gee with the Haddon, Morgan and Foreman law firm.
Through his spokeswoman, Ginsberg also declined to talk about his lawsuit. He is represented by five lawyers from Venable, a national law firm, including three in its Denver office.
The Solaris condo building in Vail. (BusinessDen file)
Ginsberg, who now lives in Puerto Rico, is asking a judge in Eagle County, where the Knobels reside, to immediately stop them from moving any more assets out of Brightstar.
“Defendants’ past behavior makes clear that they will stop at nothing to deprive (Ginsberg) and Jordan of what has already been adjudicated as rightfully theirs,” Ginsberg’s lawyers wrote in a motion last month. “Defendants will continue down this path … unless this court acts.”
Knobel has experience with long-running litigation. In 2023, a four-year legal battle with Chinese investors in his Solaris Residences condo project in Vail ended largely in his favor.
A Native Roots dispensary at 15th and Champa in 2015. (BusinessDen file)
Now in its eighth year, a nine-figure dispute between the co-owners of the Native Roots cannabis company has come to involve allegations of fraudulent real estate transfers.
The business was formed in 2013 by Josh Ginsberg, Rhett Jordan and Peter Knobel. As the company has grown into one of the state’s top sellers of marijuana, Ginsberg and Jordan have been engaged in high-priced litigation against Knobel in courts from Denver to Vail.
Their dispute dates to 2017, the height of Native Roots’ success, when it was valued at $172 million. Then, as now, Knobel — whose background is real estate development — owned 70% of the company, Ginsberg 16% and Jordan 14%. Knobel held half the voting shares; the others had 25% each.
What came next was messy. When Knobel sought to sell his shares to a private equity firm, Ginsberg and Jordan claimed he had triggered a right of first offer that allowed them to buy those shares for $8.8 million. Ginsberg tried to. He says that he would have raised the money in time, but Knobel cast aspersions on him with financiers. Their dispute went to arbitration.
Josh Ginsberg, left, and Rhett Jordan. (BusinessDen file)
In 2021, an arbitrator awarded Ginsberg $53.6 million and Jordan $46.9 million after determining that Knobel’s company Brightstar had violated their right of first offer. But a Denver District Court judge vacated that award in 2022 because, he said, the arbitrator had “demonstrated direct, definite and evident bias” against Knobel. Then, in 2024, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the reversal and reinstated the $100 million judgment.
Brightstar has since appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court. That appeal is pending.
Meanwhile, on Feb. 7, Ginsberg heaved an additional 52-page lawsuit atop the mountain of litigation between him and his former business partner. He sued Knobel, Knobel’s wife, Brightstar and 53 other companies of Knobel’s, many of which relate to real estate.
Ginsberg accuses the Knobels of creating a company called Halcyon Lending in the days after the Court of Appeals reinstated the $100 million judgment, then moving assets from Brightstar to Halcyon “to deplete Brightstar before (Ginsberg) and Jordan can collect.”
Those assets include 10 retail properties, nearly all of which are Native Roots dispensaries — four in Denver, four in Colorado Springs, two in Summit County — plus the office building at 3150 S. Sheridan Blvd. in Denver that is the cannabis company’s headquarters.
All of the transfers were made May 24, five weeks after the Court of Appeals ordered Brightstar to pay $100 million, plus interest. The judgment now totals about $170 million and counting, according to Ginsberg’s lawsuit, which alleges theft and fraudulent transfers.
“We have no comment on this pending litigation,” said Knobel’s attorney, Ty Gee with the Haddon, Morgan and Foreman law firm.
Through his spokeswoman, Ginsberg also declined to talk about his lawsuit. He is represented by five lawyers from Venable, a national law firm, including three in its Denver office.
The Solaris condo building in Vail. (BusinessDen file)
Ginsberg, who now lives in Puerto Rico, is asking a judge in Eagle County, where the Knobels reside, to immediately stop them from moving any more assets out of Brightstar.
“Defendants’ past behavior makes clear that they will stop at nothing to deprive (Ginsberg) and Jordan of what has already been adjudicated as rightfully theirs,” Ginsberg’s lawyers wrote in a motion last month. “Defendants will continue down this path … unless this court acts.”
Knobel has experience with long-running litigation. In 2023, a four-year legal battle with Chinese investors in his Solaris Residences condo project in Vail ended largely in his favor.
